Between a Witch and a Werewolf
by strange1
Summary: Willow meets Tara while still dating Oz. Who will she end up choosing. Alternative season four. Begins around Hush. COMPLETE!
1. Default Chapter

AN This story has been done before. And probably better than I'm going to do it. I don't know how long it will be. But what if Willow and Tara had met while Oz was still around. He never met Veruca. And this is basically at the start of Hush. Those, for now, are the only changes. How would they all react? Who will she choose?

Willow was partially thinking about the night before. She had been so bored because it was the night before the full moon. And that meant that Oz had locked himself up in that crypt in the cemetery. Having a boyfriend that was a werewolf was strange, to say the least. But she really loved him. And he was good to her. It was the nights that he had to stay locked up that bored her.

Buffy was always off with Riley and the commandos. Xander spent all of his free time with Anya. That really left Willow on her own for those three nights out of the month. And that really wasn't that much time. But still, she missed him when he was gone. She couldn't imagine herself with anyone else.

The day before, she had noticed this flyer for a wicca group. It had sounded appealing. Especially since the meetings, at least this month, were to take place during the final two nights of Oz's wolfiness.

The redhead had had such hopes for the meeting. The thought of finding another witch like herself was very appealing. Giles had pretty much helped her all that he could as far as her learning spells and what not. She needed someone with more knowledge and training than she had. That's why she had come to the meeting in the first place.

But they had all seemed so boring. All they were worried about was getting the message out and blessings and woman power and all that other stuff. That was all important part of being a witch, Willow knew this. But there were also other things that were just as important. These women were all simply wiccans. There didn't seem to be a real witch in the group.

Finally, tired of sitting and listening, Willow finally ventured a suggestion. "This all sounds nice. But there are other things that we could take an interest in. As a wicca group."

The one named Chantrelle looked at her suspiciously. "Like what, exactly?"

"Well, there is the wacky notions of spells." There was almost an immediate uproar from the group. She could hear mutterings of sterotypes and other really none flattering things about her personally. And than her eyes met a blond's. The girl seemed so shy. She even tried to speak, but she could not seem to get the sentence out. Someone said her name. Tara. It had sounded like she had wanted to agree with what Willow had said. But she wouldn't finish. She wondered why? Oh, well. It looked like this wicca group was going to be a big time bust. Might as well move on. But to where?

*****

Not being able to talk was so not of the good. Especially when one was Willow Rosenberg, queen of the babbling. But that's what was happening. She was glad that Oz was safely locked up in his cage. These creepy gentleman that they were facing were of the not good. Stealing human hearts was simply disgusting. Although, they had come across a lot of other disgusting things in her time with the scoobies.

She felt so exhausted. She had been trying to figure out how to stop the gentlemen for what seemed like hours. It was getting rather late. She leaned her head down on the desk. Resting for a couple minutes wouldn't hurt anything. After all, a sleepy researcher could miss something of the important. And this was just plain to big to mess up on. But time was a big time factor as well.

The redhead sighed deeply. Her eyes were now half closed. She could feel sleep coming to her. She knew she shouldn't but she just could not help herself. Her eyelids were so heavy.

And than, there was the banging. And her eyes were wide open. The adrenaline was flowing throughout her entire body. She was alerted to her surroundings. She knew that someone was in trouble. But was it too late for her to do anything about it?

The banging continued. She slowly walked over to the door. She took a deep breath. The witch knew that she could not leave whoever to their own. She opened the door and was immediately run over by someone. The pain in her ankle distracted her for a moment. But when she looked, she knew the girl. But who is she?

That's when she heard the chain rattle and the girl was helping her to her feet. They were through the doors and down the stairs in a heartbeat. They had better, or they just might lose their own hearts.

They ended up in a dead end. They were in the laundry room of her dorm. The door locked, but it was not going to hold those creepy straight jacketed guys out for too long. The witch knew she had to do something. If only she had the power. She had just been saying to Buffy that she wished that she could someday float something larger than a pencil.

The banging on the door told her that this was the day that she was going to have to try. Using all her concentration and the little bit of power that she had at her disposal, she focused on the soda machine. It shook a little, but there was no way that she, by herself was going to get it to move.

That's when she felt fingers intertwining in her own. She brought her eyes to look into the blond's blue eyes. Tara's blue eyes. For whatever reason, that refreshed her memory. Tara nodded towards the door. It was as if they were speaking a language that only the two of them knew. Willow instantly knew.

Both turned their focus back to the soda machine. The redhead watched in amazement as the big heavy thing flew with ease at the door. It helped to drown out some of the banging. And left her staring into the eyes of the other girl. Both of their breathing was heavy. And that was because of the power that they had used and of course, the running before that. Wasn't it?

*****

The bright sunlight flowed into the common area of Willow's dorm. She was sitting, talking with the fellow witch. "How long have you been practicing?"

"Since I was little." Tara looked into the emerald green eyes of the other witch. "My mom was too. She had a lot of power, just like you."

"I don't have much in the way of power." Willow shook her head for emphasis. "In fact, most of my potions turn out soup. I'm nothing special, really."

"Oh, but you are." Both women exchanged smiles. Tara's cheeks were reddened a little.

"Hey." Both women looked up at the sound of the voice. "Wondering where you were."

"Hey!" Willow stood up quickly and gave Oz a big hug. "Oz, this is Tara. She's a powerful witch. We met last night. She saved my life."

"What?" Tara looked up at Willow. "I'm n-not that powerful. And y-you saved my life."

Oz looked from his girlfriend to the blond. "Shall call it even and say that you are both powerful and help to save each other?"

Willow smiled big. "I think that would cover it." She kissed him on the cheek. "Since you have that thing tonight, I was gonna ask Tara if she'd like to get together. Real witches are hard to come by. And I would like to spend some time with another real witch."

"That's cool." Oz looked at Willow. "It'd be cool even if I wasn't tied up tonight."

Again, a little smile played at Willow's face. She turned back to the blond, who for some reason was not able to look her in the face anymore. "So, how about it? Want to do a spell or two?" There was an excitement in the redhead's voice.

"I'd loved to." Tara finally looked up. Her face was happy and sad at the same time. "Just give me a call a-and I'll be waiting for you. I-I've got class."

Before either Willow or Oz could say anything, she was gone. "Shy, isn't she."

Willow nodded absently. Her mind kept going back to the fact that the blond seemed sad and distracted somehow. Why was that? The two of them were going to be good friends. Or at least she hoped that the two could build some type of friendship. After all, to her, the girl had saved her life. And that was something for an ordinary girl to do.

"Pizza?" Oz asked, not noticing how distracted Willow had become since the blond had left.

"Huh?" Willow shook her head. "Oh, yes please. A little alone time before you go all wolfy on me tonight." The two walked towards the door of Willow's dorm, hand in hand. But the red head kept thinking about a certain blond and not about Oz. Strange.


	2. 2

AN I'm back with another quick chapter. Only one review, but thanks for all that have read. I'll try and keep them coming. Not sure how often. Let me know what you think. And tell me what you think should happen. Always glad to hear suggestions.

Willow picked up the phone and set it back down again. She was so nervous about calling the other witch. And she could not understand why. Tara was just another girl that also happened to be a witch. Why was she getting so nervous?

Buffy walked in just as she picked up the phone again. "Who ya calling?" The slayer came and sat on her bed staring up at Willow.

"No one." Willow put the phone back down again. "Just, actually." She sat down on her bed. "It's just that I've got a new friend. And I'm kinda nervous about calling her. Does that make any sense?"

"Are you kidding me?" Buffy looked the redhead right in the eye. "Do you know how nervous I was when I came up to you at school that first day? And than at The Bronze? It gave me the big time wiggins."

"Really?" Buffy nodded. "Well, I guess. It's just that you and Xander really have been my only friends since well forever. Meeting someone new is well different for me."

"So, tell me about her." Buffy pulled herself up onto the bed and sat indian style. "I'm all ears."

"Careful what you say, we are on the hellmouth." Buffy rolled her eyes at the redhead. "Well, the short of it is that her name is Tara and we met at wicca last night. Actually, she kinda helped me out when those creeps were going around. She saved my life."

"Really?" Buffy looked really interested. "How exactly?"

"Well, we were running from the baddies." Willow smiled at the thought of the blond's touch. Why, she had no idea. "And we ended up in the laundry room. I tried moving the soda machine by myself, but remember, can't float anything bigger than a pencil. Well, Tara took my hand. We both concentrated on it. It moved quickly and blocked out the baddies until you did your thing."

"Wow." Buffy looked impressed. "So she's the real deal, huh? I mean, another real witch and not a wannabe. That's cool. You should so get together with her. After all, tonight is a wolf night and I'm patrolling with Riley."

"Gee, and I thought the earth stopped rotating." Willow smiled big at her friend.

"Ha, ha." Buffy shook her head. "Very funny. And look who's talking. When it's not the night of the wolf, I know someone else that is all with the boyfriend."

"Well, you know." Now Willow was blushing. "I like my Oz, what can is say."

Buffy shook her head. "I'm heading out. You should finish attempting to try and call Tara. Phones actually work when you dial a number."

Willow could not help but laugh as she watched Buffy grab her slayer bag and walk out the door. She took a deep breath and picked up the phone. This time she managed to dial. There was that sweet voice on the other line. "Tara, it's Willow. You free tonight?"

*****

An empty pizza box sat on Tara's dresser. It had long ago been emptied of its contents. In fact, the sun had long ago went down. And in a short while, it was going to come back up again.

The two witches were in the middle of doing yet another spell. They did not even notice what time it was. They were so wrapped up in the magicks and each other that nothing else seemed to matter at the moment.

The rose floated gently into the air. The two witches let go of one another's hands. "Now for the hard part. The petals." Both concentrated. Willow could actually hear the blond's voice in her mind saying the same thing that she was thinking and at the same time. It was as if they were in perfect sync with one another. It was something that the redhead had never felt before.

They both watched amazed as the petals slowly peeled off from the rose. It cascaded slowly down like a little shower of red spring showers. There was also the scent of the beautiful roses that wafted up from the rose as the stem slowly floated down to lay on the fallen petals.

"Wow!" Willow was the first to find her voice. Of all the spells that they had done, that was the most amazing one. It had been beautiful, as she had predicted. But it also had been amazing finding the two of them so connected and so as one. "That was amazing." She turned to the blond who was now staring at her. "I've never felt anything like that, have you?"

Tara shyly shook her head. Her cheeks reddened a little. "It was nice. I've never felt connected to anyone like that. It was amazing." She brought her eyes to find that of the other witch still looking at her.

"I know the feeling." And it was true. For whatever reason, she had felt more connected to Tara than she ever had to Oz. But that just had to be the magicks, right? It could not have been the fact that she and Tara had a connection. After all, dating a werewolf here.

That brought a small smile to the blond's face. She felt exhilarated and exhausted at the same time. For her, she also knew that it was being around the redhead. The two had just met so it was too soon for her to tell the other witch that she is gay. Willow seemed like a very good person, but she had met so many people that seemed good and in the end hurt you anyways.

Finally, Willow noticed the time. "Wow! We did spells all night long." The room was still dark because of the way that Tara kept it. "I should probably get going. Not that I didn't have a good time. But Oz will be back soon and I want to be there to greet him." She could not help but wonder if that sounded rushed or in a hurry in anyway. Why did the blond make her nervous all the time. Just a new friend, right?

"T-that's cool." Tara stood up and stretched. It had been a very long night indeed. She could not help but wonder what if. What if Willow was not seeing Oz. What if the girl was also gay. But that kind of thinking only lead to pain.

Willow could not help but smile. The stutter that she sometimes had was so cute. She shook her head at the thought. "Well, I can't wait until we get together next time. Oz is busy sometimes so we can get together than. If you'd like to again."

"Oh yes!" Again, cheeks reddened as she spoke so quickly. "I mean, I-I'd love to. You're the f-first witch since my mom."

"The only other witch I really knew is still a rat." Tara looked at her curiously. "Oh! Maybe that's something we could work on together. If you want. See, my friend Amy turned herself into a rat. And I've been trying to derat her. But I've been having no luck. Maybe with your brain power and your witchy power we could figure it out together."

"I'd like that." Tara smiled at her. "Say hi to Oz for me."

Willow smiled back. "Will do. Until next time."

Tara watched the door close behind her and sighed heavily. "Until next time."

*****

It was just like old times. Willow, Xander, Buffy, Oz, Riley, and Anya were all at The Bronze. Well, not exactly like old times. It had just been the three before Willow had started dating Oz. And now, these times where all six were available for a night out were rare.

And everyone was laughing and having a good time. Except for the redheaded witch. She was really distracted. It could simply be because she was so tired. She had not gotten much sleep because of doing the spells all night with Tara. And no complaints about it.

But the thought of the blond was suddenly making her think. Was the girl all alone as she always seemed to be. She could remember what it was like to not really have any friends. Before Buffy came along, it had been just her and Xander and Jesse. And that had meant quite a few nights by herself while the guys did their thing.

And Tara had just moved to California. From where, she did not know. But they had only known each other for a little while. So it was not unusual that she did not know that much about her. And why was it suddenly so important that she know so much about the other girl.

"Earth to Willow." Xander stared at his best friend who was staring off into space. "Did someone take off with her mind? This is the hellmouth, it could happen."

"What could happen?" Willow finally snapped out of it at the mention of the hellmouth. "Is there something all evilly brewing that we need to take care of?"

"Only your attention span." Xander smiled at her. "Where have you been all night. We've been here at The Bronze and having quite a good time in fact."

Willow's cheeks reddened. "Just tired. Guess I've got a lot going on in my brain."

"I could help you with that." Oz offered. Willow only smiled at him but did not say yes.


	3. 3

AN Not many have reviewed this story, but I still want to continue it. I don't think it will be too much longer. And on a personal note I want to invite people to check out my friend's story. His author name is foxgate. The title is The Pull. It's under Buffy because it is set in the Buffy world. Just no Buffy characters. All his own and original ones. There is a story that preceded it based on a series of stories I wrote that I have yet to post. Also, I've posted an original story on fictionpress.com under my strange1 name. It is in my own vampire world. Warning though, lesbians are involved. No pressure to check any of these out, just if you want to read good stuff, especially my friends, I'd go for it. Well, now with the story.  
  
Weeks had gone by and Willow could not seem to get her mind of from a certain blond. It had to be just the fact that she was a powerful witch and that they shared a connection because of the magicks, right?  
  
She sighed heavily as she made her way to Tara's dorm room yet again. Not from being sad to be there. No, it was because of the confusion. In fact, she was feeling happier when she was around the blond than when she was around Oz. And hence with the big time sighing.  
  
The redhead was on her way there to let Tara in on the whole slayer thing. They had become such close friends that she knew that someday the other would be put in danger over the whole fighting evil thing. And she did not like the thought of her getting hurt. Not one bit.  
  
She slowly knocked on the door. It didn't take long for the blond to answer. She noticed that the girl was wearing a nice pink dress that made her look beautiful beyond words. Her face reddened a little at the thought.  
  
"Hey!" Willow quickly recovered herself. Tara made her way to the bed and sat down. "I know I was kinda cryptic on the phone about what this is about. But we've become such good friends and there is something that you should know about me."  
  
Tara smiled. Her thoughts went to the possibility that Willow was about to confess that she too was gay. "What is it?"  
  
Willow took a deep breath. She remained standing before the blond. "Well, you've met Buffy and the others." Tara nodded. "Well, let's just say that Buffy is different." Now Tara looked confused at her friend. "I know you know that there are strange things out there. After all, magick is real."  
  
"Yeah, things are different than most people realize." Tara still looked a little confused.  
  
"Well, there is one girl in all the world that has the power to fight all those bad things." Willow finally made her way to sit next to the blond. "And that's Buffy. She's what you call a vampire slayer."  
  
"Oh." Tara got really quiet all of a sudden. "She fights demons and other bad stuff?"  
  
"Yeah." Willow nodded. "We've already faced a couple of apocalypses together. And we won, hence the us still being here and all."  
  
Tara smiled at what Willow just said. "Is that all that you wanted to tell me?" The redhead nodded shyly. "Well, that's no big. And to tell you the truth, I thought that there was something different about her. She has the most amazing aura that I've ever seen." Tara quickly began looking at the floor. "Well, besides yours."  
  
Willow could not help but smile at the very nice compliment she had just received. "Again, I'm nothing special. You can say it all you want, but I'm not. I'm just plain ole Willow."  
  
"And that's what makes you very special." Tara's faced again reddened nicely.  
  
"You sound a little like Oz." Willow didn't even mean to say that out loud. She had meant just to think it to herself. Well, now what. This is interesting. "He's always telling me how special I am and stuff."  
  
"You should listen to him. He's very wise." Tara eyed her friend for a moment. "And I know about him."  
  
"What?" Willow looked into those blued eyes of the blond's. "What are you talking about?"  
  
Tara smiled. "I know that he's a werewolf. And that's a-all right with me."  
  
Willow stared at her for a moment. She had never met anyone that was any sweeter or kinder or gentler than this girl that sat before her. The girl was simply amazing.  
  
The blond swallowed hard before she spoke. "Since you're sharing things about yourself, there's something I want to tell you."  
  
"Oh?" Willow got a little excited at the thought. Tara had not really shared too much about her past with her. Maybe she was going to open up. And that would be so very nice.  
  
"This is hard t-to say." Tara made herself look into those green eyes of her friend. "I'm a lesbian."  
  
"What?" Willow was definitely surprised. This was the last thing that she had thought that the woman sitting across from her would say. Not that it was a bad thing. Being gay was all right, wasn't it? "That's, um..." She trailed off. She was not sure what to say. She didn't want to hurt the girl. And this was getting more and more confusing.  
  
"Y-you're freaked." Tara quickly got up and moved to the center of the room, her arms wrapped around herself.  
  
"What?" Willow reacted out of instinct and made her way to stand in front of the blond. "Not freaked." She smiled, but the blond still stared at the floor. "I'm not freaked. A little surprised, that's all. Just not expecting that."  
  
Tara finally turned back to look her friend in the eyes. "So, you a-all right with still being friends with me?"  
  
"All right?" Willow laughed. "I'm more than all right. Good friends are hard to come by. And just because you're gay doesn't mean you're a bad person." Tara smiled gratefully. Willow tossed in turned in bed that night. The words that Tara had said to her replayed over and over in her mind. 'I'm a lesbian.' And she would add herself, 'want to join me in a nice wholesome gay relationship'. After the millionth time, she sat straight up in bed. What was going on with her. She had Oz. She loved Oz. Why was she even thinking about Tara? And why was the fact that Tara being gay so appealing?  
  
She looked over at Buffy who still slept soundly. This was all too much for her. She decided that she needed to go for a walk. Maybe that would clear her head.  
  
Quickly, she got dressed and made her way out the door. She wandered around the campus, not paying attention to where she was going. Suddenly she looked up to realize that she was standing outside of Tara's door. 


	4. 4

Willow's heart was pounding in her chest. What the heck was she doing standing outside of Tara's room. The confusion was getting to be too much. Was her subconscious mind trying to tell her something?

She sighed heavily as she leaned her head against the door. This was not how she wanted things to go. This was not how she had planned things. She wanted a nice uncomplicated love life. After all, living on the hellmouth was complication enough.

The door suddenly opened and Willow fell forward, knocking the blond witch from her feet. The two lay there, Willow on top for several seconds before either could find their voice. "Willow? What are y-you doing here?"

The redhead sighed heavily as she made her way back to her feet. She helped her friend to her feet as well. "I'm not sure. I couldn't sleep and I started wandering around. I ended up here and I didn't even know it."

The blonde looked at her, questions running in her mind. "Are you all right? Nothing w-wrong with Buffy or Oz?"

Willow shook her head and again sighed. "I have to be honest with you. You are the reason I couldn't sleep."

"Me?" Tara got a confused looked on her face. "Why me?"

"I kept hearing what you said, about us just being friends and well, it wouldn't stop replaying in my head." Willow tried to look her in the face. "I'm just wondering why."

Tara was not usually bold, but in this case, she just had to be bold. "Do you think there could be more between the two of us than just friendship?"

Now Willow did look her in the eye. "That seems to be the million dollar question. I know I like you, a lot. And I know there is this connection between us, but I'm not sure that it's anymore than just the plain and simple magicks." She made her way over to the bed and sighed heavily, putting her head in her hands. "I'm so confused right now."

"Well, you just take your time. You decide how things should be for yourself." Tara put her hand on the redhead's shoulder. "You have to follow your heart."

Willow looked up at the blond. And suddenly, she just knew. It was no fault of the blond's but she knew. Tara was a sweet and innocent girl and she would be eternally grateful for the friendship that the two shared. But that's all it was. She had Oz and she loved him more than anything in the world.

"I think I figured it out." Willow smiled sadly. "If you can handle just the two of us being friends, I think that's what I want. I really like you, but I'm in love with Oz. He's my everything and that's just the way it is."

Tara managed to keep a smile on her face. Her heart was breaking. But at least she would forever have a friend. That was more than enough for her. "I've never really had a friend before. And I'm grateful for our friendship. If you're heart is telling you to choose Oz, please follow your heart."


	5. 5

AN Just when you thought I hand ended it. Not so fast! I wanted to do it this way, with alternative endings. And I'm going to ask anyone that reviews to vote. Which ending would you prefer. I'm curious to see the results. Hence, very short chapter.

"You have to follow your heart."

Willow looked up at the blond. And suddenly, she just knew. Oz had been so wonderful over the years to her, but this was something so different. Yes, there was the whole connection with the magicks. But there was an even bigger connection.

The redhead closed her eyes for a moment. She looked inside of herself and deep into her own heart. Oz was still there, no denying that. And he always would be. But there was someone that shined brighter than anyone ever had before.

When she opened her eyes, there was a very worried look on the blond's face. "Are you all right?"

Now the redhead smiled bigger than she had ever in her life. "I am now." She took the blond's hands in her own. "I think, no I know, I am head over heals in love with you, Tara Maclay." Before the blond could respond, she was kissing her gently.

Tara moaned a little at the contact of their lips. Willow pulled back, there was a look of fear on her face. "Should I not have? Was I wrong? Oh Goddess!"

Tara smiled quickly and leaned in for another kiss. "You definitely should have." She sighed heavily. "I never thought this would happen. Ever. I thought that you would choose Oz." She turned to look at the floor. "I've been in love with you since the first time I saw you at the wicca group."

Willow smiled. "You know what?" Tara looked back up at her. "So have I." She leaned in for another tender kiss.

AN Now that's the end. They live happily ever after in either version. But which did you like better? Please tell me. Again, really curious to see the results.


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